Description
***Presolicitation Notice for Construction at National Institute of Standards and Tecnology, Gaithersburg MD*** Background: Steam is produced at 150 psi by up to six steam generators located in the Steam and Chilled Water Generation Plant (4 nameplate-rated at 44,000 lb/hr and 2 rated at 80,000 lb/hr) at the NIST Gaithersburg, MD Campus. There are four (4) Union Iron Works boilers at 55MBtu/hr and two (2) English Boiler & Tube, Inc. at 99.8 MBtu/hr currently installed and operational. All boilers are dual-fired for natural gas and No. 2 fuel oil. The four Union Iron Works boilers are original to the facility, installed in 1962, and are to be upgraded for this requirement. There have been several construction upgrades to the feedwater systems, condensate and fuel pumps, water treatment and other ancillary systems over the last 20 years, and a major project to replace and upgrade central plant controls was completed in April 2011. The NIST facility currently operates the heating plant under an MDE permit with an expiration date of April 30, 2013, and it is anticipated that compliance with stricter visible, NOx, and Sulfur Dioxide emission standards will be required for all future projects on Boilers 1-4. The owner seeks to improve the energy efficiency and air emission discharge performance of the existing Boilers 1 thru 4. The requirement is for the replacement of existing burners, forced draft fans, wind boxes, natural gas trains of Boilers 1-4 at the NIST Steam and Chilled Water Generation Plant with new Low NOx packaged burners, forced draft fans, wind boxes, natural gas trains and auxiliaries. The new burner/fan assemblies will feature state-of-the-art variable speed drives for FDF's, installation of economizers, and new electrical services and control devices. The design is planned such that all preparatory mechanical and electrical work can be performed during the summer months and each boiler can be isolated for the required demolition and new construction work without impacting normal Central Plant operations. Strict operational and coordination controls will be required to maintain facility capacity for steam generation at 80,000 lb/hour plus 100% boiler redundancy. ***THIS PROCUREMENT WILL BE 100% SET ASIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES*** The standard classification NAICS code is 236210 -- Industrial Building Construction. The small business size standard is $33.5 million. Interested vendors must be registered at SAM.gov (formerly CCR.gov) to be considered for award. The anticipated period of performance is 440 Calendar Days with specified construction phases that will sustain uninterrupted steam generation service throughout the project duration. Detailed specifications and drawings will be issued with the solicitation. Per FAR Subpart 36.2, the Government is required to disclose the magnitude of construction within a range. The estimated magnitude of construction for this project falls very close to two of the specified ranges. Depending upon the solution chosen by the offeror, the construction magnitude may fall in the range between $1M and $5M or in the range between $5M and $10M. Minority Businesses that seek assistance with bonding should contact MBDA - Minority Business Development Agency at www.MBDA.gov. Other Small Businesses should contact their Small Business Representative at the Small Business Administration. The Government intends to award a firm-fixed-price contract. Source selection will be based on a best value trade-off evaluation. The solicitation, solicitation amendments, and all questions and answers related to this procurement will be made available via the Internet at http://www.fedbizopps.gov/. The solicitation is anticipated for release to the vendor community on or about January 10th, 2013 and will only be available via the Internet at the above web site. Potential offerors are responsible for accessing the web site. Interested parties must respond to the solicitation in order to be considered for award of any resultant contract. There is no written solicitation available at this time, telephone requests will not be honored, and no bidders list will be maintained.